Here is a diagram of a port-a-cath. It is located right beneath my clavicle (collar bone) and is about the size of a quarter. The line tunnels down into the main vessel of my heart. In an ideal world, this is a GREAT invention for people with lousy veins and can ideally stay in for life. Hopefully the new one I have placed will be successful. I'm a visual learner, so I thought the diagrams might be helpful! :)
Okay...one more post for today and I'll leave it be for awhile! I just happened to have a window of time where Gentry is taking a LONG nap, and I have a little "quiet time" alone. As you know from one of my older posts, I've been in limbo for several weeks on what to do with my non-working port-a-cath in my chest and the gallbladder issues.
Well, today I went to a NEW, different surgeon that was recommended to me by my primary care doc. We discussed all that had happened and what had gone wrong in the hospital and tried to form a revised game plan from that point. He told me if it wasn't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all...sounds like an old country song, huh? I never thought of it that way, but I guess he's right! :) Anyway, Dale and I REALLY liked this surgeon and felt VERY comfortable with his recommendations.
I had more bloodwork done today and will go in the morning to an outpatient clinic and have a more "intensive" scan done of my gallbladder and once the results come back from that (should be this week sometime), he will schedule me for surgery to have both my gallbladder AND the defunct port removed at the same time. We will decided post-op what the best options are as far as vascular accesses for the future.
I still am having terrible issues with continuous nausea and inability to eat anything more than 2-3 bites of food. Do you know how disappointing that is for a gal who LIVES to eat!!?? I mean, I LOVE LOVE LOVE food and just the smell of it turns my stomach sour! I'm really hoping that if it indeed is my gallbladder causing all of these GI problems that surgery will correct my eating habits. I've lost 15 pounds over the past 10 days!!
So...I should know more once the test results are back later on this week. In the meantime, I'm taking anti-nausea medication and trying not to get too dehydrated. I'm out of here for now. Thanks for checking in and I'll write more soon.
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3 comments:
Melanie, I've been checking for an update and I've been worried that you were in the hospital again. The visuals are great. I pray this new surgeon can you back on the road to recovery. That's a heck of a way to lose weight.
My prayers and thoughts are with you.
Sister Joyce
Hope the new doc can get you all fixed up good as new! I wish they didn't have to put a port back in as much trouble as you've had with the botched one. Keep us posted on lab results, etc.
Thanks for the update. Keep us posted.
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